In 2015, Americans spent nearly $60.28 billion on their pets. Of this nearly 40% ($23.05 billion) was spent on food and nearly 50% was spent on supplies and OTC medicine ($14.28 billion) and Vet Care ($15.42 billion) combined.
Joint health comprises biggest area of expenditures. Animals are living longer and joint and skeletal ailments continue to be the biggest areas of concern for animal owners. There are three main factors contributing to joint problems:                1) Genetic predisposition to structural unsoundness of joints: Structural problems such as joint dysplasia is a well-recognized problem in pets. While better breeding practices can mitigate this, it is not possible to enforce this. Despite genetics even dysplastic animals can enjoy many years of functional pain free existence if the muscles supporting their dysplastic joints are kept in excellent fitness through regular exercise since these muscles effectively absorb the load and thereby protect the underlying joint.        2) Overweight pets: Pet obesity is a pervasive problem caused by the combination of inadequate resistance exercise and excessive caloric intake.        3) Injury: Joint injury is especially a problem in overweight and under conditioned pets whose muscles are too weak to prevent ligament rupturing stresses from affecting their joints        
The essential component that protects against joint injury in all animals is the strength and tone of the muscles that operate that joint. The long-term health of joint is therefore favorably impacted by weight loss, appropriate exercise and joint wellness nutritional supplements.
Despite all well-meaning intentions, the vast majority of animal owners are unable to give their animals an adequate exercise. The problem of inadequate exercise directly promotes weight gain and compounds joint injury and damage.
The present invention is a unique innovative solution to the problem that employs low impact resistance loads to normal pet movement that allows the pet to develop the intrinsic small and large muscle stabilizers of shoulder, neck, back and pelvis thereby protecting the joints in these areas from injury and everyday wear and tear.
The present invention is a soft fabric leg strap that allows the present invention to be securely strapped around the forelegs and hind legs of the animal. The animal may wear the present invention for fifteen minutes each day and is allowed to move normally around the house or in the backyard with the present invention engaged. This simple fifteen minute per day of carrying weights on all four limbs, while executing the activities of casual movement in the backyard or in the house, is enough, over an extended period of time, to develop the intrinsic muscle groups required to stabilize and support the joints in the areas of the shoulder, neck, back and pelvis of an animal.
The present invention describes a training system for the attachment of plurality of weights to the limbs of an animal that is secure, comfortable and safe in a manner that does not impede the natural movement of the animal. This allows the normal movements of the animal to come under graded resistance thereby promoting the stepwise development of power in the small and large muscle stabilizers of the joints of the elbows, neck, shoulder, upper and lower back, pelvis, hind limbs of the animal. The present invention can be used on any biped or quadruped animal. The present invention consists of soft, flexible, fabric-based leg strap of dimensions appropriate to the limb of the animal for which it is being used. The leg strap includes at least one pocket that will accommodate at least one selected weight from a plurality of weights in incremental amounts allowing for the graded development of resistance loads for the animal in accordance with a structured resistance training program. The choice of weights will vary depending on the size, species and breed of the animal being considered for resistance training.
The utility of the present invention lies in that a mere fifteen minutes a day is all that is needed, and the animal develops power and muscle tone in all the small and large muscle stabilizers of all critical skeletal areas. The coincident benefit is the automatic loss of weight in the case of overweight animals as the resistance training automatically increases the basal metabolic rate of the animal over time. Thus, the present invention allows the seamless and effortless achievement of multiple health and fitness goals and thus becoming an ideal component of a comprehensive animal wellness program.